Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-08-20

Rates Of Motion OF Things Celestial
and Terrestrial.

From the London Saturday Review.
"Are you in o hurry" 81 AMIN q great
hurryw ''Then wait till the hurry goes ov you. +"
SO says Paddy go-Aisy, as though haste were q
fever fit or Juror breuis. And he has plenty to
help him In doing as little as can be helped. Che
"a piano sdno-fair and easy goes far In day.
the longest way round is the shortest way home,
and so on But the old sense OF speed is success,
and that is clearly its purpOrt In 1.-The more haste
the worse speed" Evil speed was common
middle English expression, meaning Ill success
for success meant the issue, whether good or bad
and probably explains the old curse, "Iad cess to
your The radical origin OF speed, too,
seems to be in the direction Of extending,
increasing, doing We'll, having room. There
could not well be a more striking illustra-
ton OF these last phases of the word than
1880 Groombridge tearing heailong through space
at the rate OF 200 miles in second Quite a sew
enth-rate star too, although the best on record
far. 1t is speed which goes as much beyond the
grasp OF Imagination as IT. OutStrtpS the SwrtneSS
OF our nerve messages which only do trifle Of
the twelfth OF a mile in the same time. The only
way to get some idea OF No. 1S30s gait OF going Is
to go to work somewhat thus: The fastest running
now made by English railways is perhaps the
Great Northern's los miles from Grantham in lis
minutes; but trains have been driven 100 miles
an hour. Double 1t, and we cover in an hour
what this particular but by. no means
bright star does in a. second. Then We
by sixty, and then again increase that sixty
fold more before we come up with 1880 Groom
bridge: He goes ess times as fast as sound, s65
times faster than poor Martini Henry bullet, and
he can give the sun un his journey toward Hercu-
les) 1875 miles second and lick easily. One begins
be Judged-which is not far-1s3O Is not moving in
any orbit, but going right away to parts un-
known. 1t Is a runaway, In fact flying on
momentum that the attraction OF all the stellar
universe we can see with the biggest telescope
has no effect upon IL. And If it has always been
going like that. IL must have come from SOME
where else altogether, and have nothing whatever
to do with the mass OF stars within our constant
world, falling, falling from his high estate, never
to hope again?
1t is a relief after this, to think Of something
slow, such as French express or the creeping Of
the blood cOrpuscles through the capillarteS OF
the retina where they give those curious specters
that at times annoy good sight; it takes them an
hour to move foot. Snails are race-hOrses to
this, doing SIX good, long PAGES in the same time.
Burckharlt's best camels OF the Hedias took ten
done, lost or won the speed OF "Ihe boat race" is
but some ID miles an hour; q common house ny,
In Its saant erin hight goes third faster
and a man can throw stone at the rate OF about
36 miles an hour AS quick as thought is we'll
worn Old saying; but that may Iaean out Jog trOt
old gait, too-witness the legendary Scot, who was
told joke In the coach at Berwick, and when he
got to SLAPPED MS leg In a, and
phrase OF our forefathers, generally used in
bad sense, though. OF things that were going
NIoIS. DuG "udU C'u IL uOFSe amer I'LL
some 40 miles an hour for short distances; and
such names Eclipse and Flying ChilderS were
given before the Scotch Limited or the Wild Irish
man We're drearnt OF. The reputation OF the horse
has become barbarian within this jubilee half
century, and sillliGr names for him can be traced
back Into The night OF Chinese history, when King
Mu, SSS years ago. had team so swift that they
were called Earth GUTTER, Wing Flapper, Fog Run
ncr, because ne coursti IN the dark mist through
everything, ike an Atlantic liner; shadow liner,
liguL beater, wing 11anked and cloud climber,
winch give the idea OF Pegasus and TIE Enchanted
Horse OF the Thousand and One.
grayh0u can go at the rate OF about fifty
seven miles an hour. Four carrier pigeons OF Count
karoly's flew from PesLh to Paris In 1884 at the
rate Of LII miles an hour kept up for seven hours;
but swallows are computed to do $50 and swiIts as
much as ECO. Ariel, VINO rode upon the curled
clouds and drank the air before him, might be
mentioned here, and that-perhapS it was
more than threat OF putting girdie round the
earth in forty minutes-was dangerously near the
which takes ~ hours, at 1,o40 miles an hour, to
every turn In 4 very high Old astrological time
the brag might have brought that "tricksy spirit
within the biaSpheIny laws. Tides do not give
landlubberS, or sailors either. a very high notion
or speed, but Whewell has calculated that in the
North Pacific the tide commotion travels at the
considerable rate OF l 500 miles an hour, while
surface tempest wave moves but fifty. But the
connection OF proper earthquake, like that OF
Granada, in December 1884, beats the tides hollow.
The shock reached Greenwich in seven minutes,
being some $40 miles an hour. An American ice
yacht will SKIN along at 20 miles an hour, just
beating the eagle and the packages in the post
Office pneumatic tubes. The Connecticut cyclone
or 1885,, did 260 miles an hour easy. Our present
polar star is by no means steady as its reputa-
ton, for 1t has a very rapid motion OF its own,
equal to some So miles minute. Sound. which
travels but some 1,l06 feet a second through
fast as that. or about TOUR miles second through
white pine timber. The fine Old-faShiOned house
ghost was not much OF gadabout being OF
domestic and even mopish turn, and we do not
know what the usual speed OF brand new spoOk
Is, but II can scarcely exceed that. If we only
admit that the builder OF a row OF houses, or OF a
arpiIpnflV or
the timberS OF one room or dwelling end on TO
those OF another, the "nOiSes" or haunted house
would be easily explained by the superior ability
shown by deal scantling for conveying sound
from a distance, and many an innocent poor SpOok
would be let of free.
II Is not quite modest TO speak about ourselves
In all this wonderful company; but modesty, after
all, is but secondary quality, and we are indubi
taDly, each one of us, n.iens uotens Waiting
round the sun at the rate Of Is miles second.
This leads again 10 1880 Groombridge, who, so
far as the observations OF astronomers have yet
gone, yields only to comets, Halley's, when near
the big comet or 1913 beat that considerably,
reaching speed OF 325 miles a second. Passing
by solar eruptions greater speed must be
sought in far more tenHous essences. The cleo
trio current in an Oyerheated wire travels $500
miles in second OF time, and STILL like Speed, SER
SLOW" The electric light seems TO our instruments
just to beat that or the sun-the drum in the old
song says, 81 doubt it"fashlng lss, 600 miles in
second, and the greatest velocity ever measured
by crawling man is that OF the electric discharge
OF Leyden bottle through slender copper wire,
which was committed to be $50 600 miles second.
Now You See it and now You Don't.
From the Chicago Tribune.
In an Illinois city, within SO miles of Chicago,
there is hotel where the service at table Is nOto-
riously bad 1t can be improved by the use OF tips
to walters, and guests OF the house know 1t.
drummer was telling the other night how he got
satisfactory dinner at the hotel. There is some
thing familiar about the story, but it is good
enough 10 tell. The drummer sat down at the
table and managed to get waiter.
"Pete," said he, taking a big silver dollar from
his pocket and putting 1t under a goblet turned
upside down, 'do you see that?"
ayes, sah," said Pete, affaDiy, 81 sees It,"
as good a dinner as you know how, and don't Keep
me waiting"
Better service than the drummer had could not
be desired. The meat was just what he asked for
the vegetables fresh and da1ntly set before him
the courses followed each other in rapid success
sion, and when the guest had finished lie was sat
iSfied.
"Pete." he said again, as he laid his napkin be-
side his plate, "dO you see that dollar?"
Eyes, sah, said PETE with expectation In his
eyes.
SWELL Pete" said the drummer as he removed
the goblet, stake good look at 1t, for you'll never
see IL again."
Then the drummer put the coin into his pocket
nllnIn or 10